Wednesday, 17 March 2010

My Finish

As you may have guessed by now I withdrew from the race around 6pm local time after 180 miles (82 hours of racing) .

I was suffering from extreme mental exhaustion this being brought on by lack of sleep (seven hours in total) , solitude , dehydration , lack of nutrition and cold.

My physical well being being intact I was in danger of making mistakes that could harm myself and was not seeing the point of continuing past the point I had reached, given that I walked for a further two hours after informing the very supportive race director that I needed more time to consider my feelings, bearing in mind that walking into the wind the temperature was around minus 40 (with wind chill).

Having now had a little sleep and some real food I feel much better and am not disappointed having not finishing and am personally proud that I made it so far in such a tough race and managed to finish the 120 race and am one of only 6 competitors have made it past the 120 mile mark

There are currently 3 competitors still in the race all each of them being just unbelievable athletes Chris (the walking machine - last years winner), Sean and PJ. I will update on their news as the race continues.

My special thanks to all those who taken the time to have supported me it has given me great encouragement

In the very apt words of TS Eliot:

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”

9 comments:

Richie, your an awesome athlete, you must surely be proud of what you have achieved. Well done mate a superhuman effort. Look forward to the stories of an unbelievable experience when you get back. Bring on London!!!

Massive congratulations. You should be so proud of yourself. Having seen you perform last year in the MdS I know what a superb athlete you are and how tough you are mentally and physically. Noticed your tracker didn't move and kept checking. Thank God you had the sense to know when to stop. Look forward to hearing your story. J... would have been proud of you!

You are the strongest athlete we know and we are so proud of that. You have taken a brave and wise decision in such difficult conditions...whaoo!!! We are looking forward to hear your adventure and share your feelings. Enjoy the Arctic and ... come back home!!Vittoria and Marco

Rich, it must have been extremely tough. You are not the kind to withdraw without giving it your all. The fact that you got so far is very impressive and am sure all who know you are very proud of how well you actually did. It must have been the experience of a lifetime. Well done. Martin

Well done Rich, have enjoyed both the build up and watching from a distance, phenomenal acheivement, well done, glad sense prevailed over guts, like Steve I think J would be thrilled with you efforts, maybe next time drop the husky for the traditional J stick and all will be well!!, beers with the Mds boys on your return a must!, speak soon, Rob